In such extreme weather conditions, even architects listing environmental design as their top priority are up against a tough battle. Never mind that the sand can compromise the structural integrity of the building, the intense heat and glare can render a comfortable indoor environment relatively impossible if not properly addressed. For Abu Dhabi’s newest pair of towers, Aedas Architects have designed a responsive facade which takes cultural cues from the “mashrabiya”, a traditional Islamic lattice shading device. More about the towers’ shading system after the break. Completed in June 2012, the 145 meter towers’ Masharabiya shading system was developed by the computational design team at Aedas.

The screen opperates as a curtain wall, sitting two meters outside the buildings’ exterior on an independent frame.
90 Years Later, Frank Lloyd Wright's Fuel Station Finally Built in Buffalo, NY. Filling up the ole’ gas tank is not a glamorous job, and usually not a task that leaves one marveling at the surrounding architecture.

But in 1927, Prairie-style extraordinaire Frank Lloyd Wright put together plans for a fuel filling station in Buffalo, New York that would leave even the most seasoned driver awe struck. Now, almost 90 years later, the Buffalo Transportation Pierce-Arrow Museum has realized Wright’s vision and constructed the station as a one-of-a-kind installation housed in a 40,000-square-foot glass and steel atrium, made possible by a $6.3 million state grant. The arts-and-crafts gas station, the third Wright recreation in Buffalo, makes a nod to Native American design and thoughtfully mixes practicality with visual appeal. Frank Lloyd Wright was a well-known automobile lover, designing many of his projects with the car in mind. The Buffalo Filling Station is one of two gas stations he planned. [Via A|N Blog] All images courtesy of Pierce-Arrow Museum.

Maison Louis Carré. 2000. OFICINAS EN ZAMORA : rauldelvalle. Crescent shaped Croft House with curved roof and windows. If you are a lover of ultra modern architecture, then here's a house that will stop you dead in your tracks.

Designed by Australian architect James Stockwell, the Croft House is located near Inverloch, a small seaside town on the southern coast of Victoria, Australia that is a hotspot for surfers, fishermen, and now, architecture aficionados. This futuristic house design features an organic crescent shape which rises and falls like a man-made hill within the exposed landscape. This ultra modern house makes an unexpected addition to this pastoral setting dotted with trees, bales of hay, and wildlife. Check it out. As explained by the architects, "The design looks at the core idea of shelter in an exposed environment, and that shelter may contain all the necessary activities of domestic life in an uncompromised way but that the activities are enhanced by participating in the whole and each yields to the other to a much greater extent.